Dita Von Teese Clarifies: She's Not a Dumb Stripper

Dita Von Teese might be known for her impeccable look, but compared to a lot of celebrities, she's anything but high-maintenance. "To be honest, I don't put a lot of effort into [dressing for events]. I never really know what I'm going to wear until right before," admitted the burlesque star before the Zac Posen show. "For certain red carpet events I take time to plan out what I'm going to wear in advance, but generally I just throw things on. I don't have a stylist so I do my own hair and makeup, put on an outfit, and that's it—it's not a big production to me."

You'd never guess it: her sculpted plum dress fit her to a T; her shiny, onyx hair was perfectly curled; it looked like someone spent hours painting her lips crimson. But just add it to the long list of things that Von Teese is good at—along with performing as a guest star in the play Sleep No More. "I've been obsessed with it for a year—I've flown out from L.A. to NY just to see it seven times! [I said,] `I'll do anything to be in your show!'"

Is it ever strange to Von Teese that she's surrounded by starlets who have a team of people overseeing their looks? "I don't want to judge people—I guess it's part of their career, maybe they don't have the time—but I really like the satisfaction I get from creating my own red carpet looks and doing my hair and makeup," she said. "When people say that I'm just a dumb stripper, I'm thinking, wow, but you're really giving accolades to these stylists, hair, and makeup people that get everybody turned out and I'm holding my own up there?"

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Pausing for a moment, Von Teese added, "So yeah, I have talents! They're just not really appreciated when you're not doing it on other people."

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